URI helping farmers and forest owners deal with climate changes

A NEW INITIATIVE linking 12 northeastern states will help farmers and forest owners adapt to climate changes, according to the University of Rhode Island, which has a lead role.
A NEW INITIATIVE linking 12 northeastern states will help farmers and forest owners adapt to climate changes, according to the University of Rhode Island, which has a lead role.

SOUTH KINGSTOWN – A new initiative linking 12 northeastern states will help farmers and forest owners adapt to climate changes, according to the University of Rhode Island, which has a lead role.
The initiative – the Northeast Climate Hub – is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to address climate-related risks related to agriculture. This hub is one of seven around the country, and partner universities in each state will interview local farmers to learn about the issues they are facing and plan pilot projects designed to solve problems.

In Rhode Island, climate-related issues farmers are facing include planting cycle changes, new pests in the area and more extreme weather events.
“Increasingly severe storms are going to cause all sorts of problems for agriculture,” said Bill Buffum, a URI research scientist managing the project in Rhode Island. “And rain patterns are expected to shift, so rainfall in winter will go up but we’ll have more drought in the summer. That’s going to have a big impact on farmers, too.”

Buffum and colleague Kat Zuromski have begun meeting with farmers and conducting vulnerability assessments. One of the first pilot projects they plan to launch will address the increased storm run-off from farms that will likely affect local streams.

“With the heavy rainfalls that are coming, nitrogen and phosphorous will work its way into our drinking water systems,” he said. “We’re looking at ways to plant more vegetation along stream banks that could absorb some of those nutrients. And hopefully the plantings could be something the farmers could earn some money from.”

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Buffum hopes to have several landowners trying out different approaches to protecting stream banks by the end of next year. Universities in other states will be testing other ways of adapting to climate change. In Connecticut, different methods of tilling the soil so it doesn’t dry out so fast is being tested.

“The point of the hub is to have regular sharing and cross-fertilization so we all can benefit from whatever is learned in each state,” Buffum said.

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